This invention is generally related to an ice bag and more particularly to ice bag containing a frozen liquid (preferably water) intended for medical patient use to cold a small areas of the patient body.
The ice bags are in wide use. Ice cubes mostly have been molded in trays which are filled with water an placed in a freezing equipment. For example, the ice packs for single patient use are generally of two types: large general purpose ice packs designed for application to large areas of the body and small, specialized ice packs designed for application of cold locally at particular points. These smaller ice packs, because of their size, typically have small openings, which are difficult to fill from an automatic ice machine or from a scoop from an ice bin, and which often result in the spillage of ice during filling and damage to the disposable ice packs which tend to be of more fragile construction. Sanitation requirements also limit the use of the ice packs in hospitals and clinics. Many small ice packs, for example, designed for single patient use, must be disposed of after single use due to the likelihood of contamination of the ice machine or scoop with an ice pack which has been in contact with a patient""s body, or there is risk of contaminating the ice supply. This is both expensive and wasteful. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,347,848 and 4,523,353 describe a single patient ice pack which can be filled and refilled from an automatic ice machine and includes the singular ice pack of a rectangular envelope form having two sides, an open, a closed end, and two pairs of tie strings and extend from the open and closed ends. A bag closed on three sides and having a throat opening at the open end of the envelope is formed internally of the envelope for receiving and retaining ice. A funnel dimensioned to conform with the divergence of the throat in the bag may be inserted into the throat for filling the bag by ice from the automatic ice machine. A closure member is provided for sealing the throat of the bag when the bag has been filled with ice.
Such ice bag can be uncomfortable for patients considering the sharp corners of the ice cubes filled by automatic ice machine.
For some reasons, after the ice cubes have been molded in trays which are filled with water and frozen in a freezing equipment, it can be necessarily to remove the piece of ice from the bag. A release mechanism permits the ice cubes to be removed intact for use. The two primary release means, a lever moving baffles and the flexible tray after result in the ice cubes breaking. This method has been improved upon by a mold bag with shapes molded in. The mold bag is filled with liquid and placed in a freezing equipment. Removal of the ice cubes is accomplished by tearing the mold bag to release the ice pieces. A problem with the mold bag is that air can enter during any part of the process which causes less ice to be formed and in some cases cosmetic flaws in the resulting ice cubes. The risk of air entry is especially high during the process of sealing the bag. What is desired is a mold bag which can be sealed without permitting the entry of air. This requires a seal on the filling end of the bag it is further desirable that the sealing be automatic. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,446 describes an ice making bag comprising a first left peripheral opening binding and a first right peripheral opening binding. The first left peripheral opening binding and the first right peripheral opening binding form a gap therebetween. The first binding functions to form a pocket between the first envelope top and the first envelope bottom. The first ice making bag also includes one first opening binding forming an air channel between the first left peripheral opening binding or the first right peripheral opening binding and another first opening binding. A user holds the first ice making bag in a vertical position pouring liquid in through the gap into the pocket formed between the first envelope top, and a first envelope bottom and placing the first ice making bag in a freezer to form first ice. The air channel functions to facilitate release of air previously entrapped in the pocket during filing.
This ice making bag is complex and requires automatic nozzle sealing under pressure.
It is commonly known within this technical field that ice cube bags with very strong joints, especially weldings or glueings may be produced, providing a safe and reliable containment of the ice cubes produced by means of the ice cube bag. Similarly it is generally realized that it may often be quite difficult for a user to open an ice cube bag in which ice cubes are contained, as the foil used, especially the commonly used polyethylene plastic foil and the rather strong joints, makes a tearing apart or opening of the ice cube bag quite difficult. In some known ice cube bags, an ice cube bag construction is described in which glueing is preferably used for establishing joints in the interior of the ice cube bag. The joints are later on relatively easy to separate again enabling a conversion of the ice cube bag from an ice cube bag divided into compartments into a non-compartmentalized ice cube bag and the joints enabling a conversion of the ice cube bag from a compartmentalized ice cube bag into a non-compartmentalized ice cube bag may be established as weldings or alternatively as glueings, as it should be possible for a person skilled in the art to deduce a technique to establish weak weldings enabling such a tearing apart of the joints for the purpose of converting the ice cube bag from a compartmentalized into a non-compartmentalized form. In this connection, tearing apart of the joints, especially the glueings is not to cause any damage to the walls of the ice cube bag, i.e. cause a proper tearing of the ice cube bag, but only a separation of the joints previously established. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,044 describes an ice cube bag comprising two sheet-shaped foil layers defining an outer periphery. A peripheral joint extends along the major part of the outer periphery of the foil layers, with the exception of a peripheral area constituting an inlet aperture of the bag. Their peripheral joint joins the foil layers together defining an inner chamber which is divided into several ice cube sections defined by separate joints of the foil layers. An inlet channel extends from the inlet aperture to the inner chamber of the bag providing admission from the surroundings to the inner chamber of the bag through the inlet channel. Each of the separate joints is constituted by a number of individual joints, each of these individual joints establishing a connection between the two sheet-shaped foil layers with such a joint strength and with such a limited area extension that the individual joint is not broken when the foil layers are exposed to a separation force, but provides a tearing apart or perforation in one of the foil layers along the periphery of the individual joints.
Such ice cube bag requires each of the foils to have a folded part and protruding inwardly into the interior of the ice cube bag and forming inner laid-open edges.
There are many disclosures of sealing devices designed for a wide variety of purposes and having many different constructions. In some devices, resilient clips are provided including portions resiliently movable apart to receive a portion of a bag or other enclosure therebetween. In others, the devices have been arranged to be deformed to clamp portions of a bag or the like between portions of the devices. The sealing device by U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,485 includes two members connected through a hinge for clamping and sealing engagement with gathered-together material at the end of an enclosure. The hinge facilitates installation and accurately aligns interacting parts including a projecting structure on one member with an opening in the other, interengageable locking elements on side portions of the members and sealing elements on end portions of the members. The locking elements include a shoulder on one member engageable by a shoulder on a projection on the other, the projection being engageable in one embodiment for release. Additional locking elements are positioned adjacent the hinge connection for reinforcement.
The described sealing device is complex and requires the hinge, which facilitates installation and aligns interacting parts.
Thus, there is a great need in the art for the improved ice bag, providing convenient, economical, effective and safe use for single patient.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are to provide convenient, economical and effective ice bag for single patient use in the application of cold to small areas of the body.
It is another object of the invention to eliminate necessity of the automatic ice machine use.
It is still another object of the invention to provide patient with possibility to use the improved ice bags in the residence and not only in the medical clinics provided with the automatic ice machines.
It is further object of the invention to increase the a flexibility of the patient""s ice bags and to prevent the damage to the ice bag material at the time of the folding of the bag with the frozen liquid (ice) inside.
It is still further object of the invention to eliminate the patient inconvenience of the application of sharp sides of the ice cubes formed by the automatic ice machines.
Still, further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description accompanying drawings.